Suninen first for “JRX”

The nascent Junior Rallycross Cup or “JRX” has gained its first competitor with SetPromotion signing Finnish kart star Teemu Suninen to race in the six-event series that will accompany the last half of the 2012 European Rallycross Championship.

Suninen (17) is part of the Finnish ASN’s talent scheme and was Finnish KF2 champion in 2010, achieving third place in the European and fourth in the under 18 World championships in the same year. Last year he won the Winter Cup and the Supernational event in Las Vegas. The Helsinki-based student plans to continue karting with Finnish team SpeedFun this year as a method of keeping himself race ready until JRX gets underway in June.

“It’s absolutely thrilling to start driving Rallycross. Initially we planned to continue in karting, but when this opportunity to drive Rallycross presented itself, I was immediately excited about it and things worked out quickly. It is great to start learning the nuances of Rallycross in a top-level team like SetPromotion. My goal is to learn fast and to have a long career in this sport,” said Suninen.

SetPromotion boss Jussi Pinomäki has high hopes of his new signing. “To have a young, very talented athlete transfer from another class to Rallycross and to my team is thrilling for me, too. Teemu has won a lot in international karting and he knows what it takes to be successful in motorsports. But now he enters a new sport and his old results will not give him any extra points. We have a lot to learn, but believe in Teemu 100%,” he said.

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